Finish a 'Red wine' top....

As you know I'm working on the Red Widow LP and I had a funny conversation with my father in law (who happens to be a wine lover and also knows al lot about wines).

I told him that I was aiming for a 'red wine-ish color with some black tones in it' and that I wanted to use stampink or fountainink for that (I wasn't sure at that time). His respond was:'Why don't you use real red wine?' At first it was funny of course but later on I kept thinking about it. And indeed, why not use real red wine? It comes in various colors varying from fresh red (young wines) to dark deep red (old Spanish or French wines). It would be perfect to color a nice flamed or quilted top! Or staining a flamed top with some deep yellow white wine from Argentina?

But later on (the next morning after some strong coffee :) ) I thought that maybe the organic nature (made from grapes and forming the alcohol) would not be the best option for keeping a nice coloured top.

Anyway, it keeps floating around in my mind so I wonder what you think of the idea.

That is an interesting idea indeed. Now I'm curious to dunk some scrap wood bits into a nice cabernet sauvignon to see what happens.

I'd go with something pretty undrinkable myself.

Of course you could always look for some old oak barrels and see what they're like on the inside.

F.I.L. 'Why don't you use red wine?'

S.I.L. 'Got a bottle of Grange Hermitage?'

F.I.L. 'Why don't you use wood stain'.


cheers, Mark.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Of course you could always look for some old oak barrels and see what they're like on the inside.

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Good point. I've used old wine barrel wood for smoking meat before and in addition to the lovely flavor it imparts, the chunks have a nice burgundy hue to them.

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the only real problem i can see is that the color might not be intense enough to get the shade you want...
if you try it do a test piece, especially to make sure it doesnt react with your clear coat

Agree with Stan - I think it will stain - barrels are an example, but it sits in barrels for a long time to get that level of stain. A quick wipe may not be enough. May be worth considering evaporating some of the water from the wine, but retain the tannins - not sure if this will affect the colour though.

You might need a lot of wine and a lot of time to get the right colour. Stain is probably far, far cheaper.

I can remember when Penfolds Grange was affordable, even if relatively expensive. I regret not buying a bottle/case/cellar full at that time and laying it/them down.

Haha, stain is cheaper indeed but what if you could tell all your friends that it took '100 bottles of Hardy's Merlot 2013' to finish it :)

it'd be an interesting exercise, as long as it was truly awful wine. If it were semi decent it'd be one for the guitar, 1 for me and that would end in disaster and a hangover

I happen to have an uncle who owns a liquorstore. Perhaps he has some boxes of cheap wine that doesn't sell.

I'll keep this in mind for a future build :)

My brain says 'I don't think so'. I'm no expert but to my reasoning, red wine being organic would continue to break down over time (entropy), making it unstable (unlike inks and dyes). That might cause: (a) the stain to change colour, (b) the chemical reaction to cause damage to the finish or wood, (c) your hard worked and much loved axe to smell like a bottle of sour vinegar or worse, (d) all of the above or (e) some other disaster to occur. Then again, it could be (f) none of the above.

Haha, I think option d is the most probable :)

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Originally Posted by Kick

Haha, stain is cheaper indeed but what if you could tell all your friends that it took '100 bottles of Hardy's Merlot 2013' to finish it :)

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It still can, just dont use it on your guitar ;)

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Originally Posted by Kick

Haha, I think option d is the most probable :)

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Tend to think it won't be colourfast and will most likely end up more brown than red as things age.

A while back a forum member tried beetroot as a staining property and the purple quickly turned brown once it started to oxidise.